The overall plot sounds fine to me - nothing more or less than what I expected I suppose. Where it doesn't look as good is in practice, outside of a neatly wrapped up couple of sentences, as its tropes peak through the cracks when taken in conjunction with the Rock, Paper, Shotgun impression.
Taking the base premise of interplanetary colonization, while easily sounding like a a weak jumping off point for a story at first, truly does hold tons of potential when you consider our
own history as a species and the stranger-than-fiction drama that transpired time and again over claims to land alone. Unfortunately, I get the sneaking suspicion that Bioware lacks the grander ambitions of what the scope of Mass Effect Andromeda's conceit offers in favor of discovering new holes to explore for the people who watch Game of Thrones for the nipple slips.
- Character creation seems like an improvement - I made someone who appeared human on the first go around, without feeling too much regret once I saw them in action.
Uh, nah ya didn't chuckles.
Something about the eyes looks so
wrong, even so far as appearing like a cartoon character in some angles. There is some level of leeway whenever you're dealing with character creation because game has to take into account so many variables, but this is far from exceptional, let alone acceptable for a triple-A project backed by EA money. I decided to google the original ME games, and I don't really see all that much improvement:
If I had to place it, I'd say that the facial textures and modeling in the older games were more on par with the eye model/texturing, whereas Andromeda seems to push the former a
little too far for the lagging eye graphics to match properly.
- The new dialogue system is MUCH better. Now there are a many different types of responses, none of which are the obvious right/wrong/paragon/renegade choices. I’ve found myself picking liberally, depending on what felt right.
Liberal. Right. Pick one.
But in all seriousness, I would prefer more choices as to how I interact with people. One instance is when "Peebee" first introduces herself, "Like my name's better as 'Peebee,' leaving you only the two choices:
"Good to meet you" or "Tell me about the Remnant," without a proper, "Piss off," or "what kind of stupid name is Peebee short for?"
If I'm going to play as Space-Archer, I need more aggressively snarky retorts and belligerently reckless banter.
RaaAAAMMPAAaaagge!!!
Or if I want to go
renegade Space-Bolton, I'm gonna need some meat to work with in this salad bar of dialogue.
Actually, that makes me genuinely curious if we
can be "evil" in this game
at all, or if in the end our actions and behavior will inevitably only lead to a small set of consequences, or even what amounts to
essentially one ending. All of the interpersonal relationships will be meaningless if the conclusion always rounds out to be about the same end-game scenario. I'm not talking intergalactic apocalypse-level differences, but enough of a variance to warrant being such an apparently acclaimed "pathfinder."
- The voice acting feels more natural now, because you’re not a gruff Specter.
Except I
have a gruff voice in real life. And with the lot in this game? I'd definitely not be bringing out my slightly less emotionless one, either.
Even when the VA's seem to be sort of trying, I have to side with the RPS take because enough of that dialogue was rubbish.
And I don't know how you can call a black guy with a white guy's voice "natural," because you could play some scenes for someone blindfolded and blow their mind with the reveal.
- Combat is more intense and kinetic, largely because of the added mobility....
Looks quite good, although this definitely looks like a PC-only purchase because anything less than 60fps would be a
mess to behold. Only downside is that this reminds me of how much I've steered away from third person shooters towards first person for the more symmetrical and immersive perspective. That said, at least the character movement and melee in particular look very well done and dynamic. Whatever that rush attack is looks spectacular in third person, and I'd rather it be 100% third person instead of that clunky Halo first to third flip-flop transition that kills immersion.
Weapons sound good for the most part and the visual effects carry some punch with a sense of impact. I'm also happy to see that Andromeda uses a proper health/shield bar, but I understand RPS' complaint about it being an instrument of frustration just by looking at it.
- I love that I can mix and match abilities, regarding of what specialization I pick.
- Then again, the number of SYSTEMS and CHOICES are kinda overwhelming, and Andromeda throws you right into the thick of it. Where older games felt as if Bioware were making a compromise between an RPG and an action game, it feels like they’ve gone full throttle in both directions this time around. Combat is thrilling, but you’re also going to spend a lot of time managing resources and equipping different things.[/quote]
I... I get the feeling this person doesn't understand how throttles work, because you can't go full throttle in diametrically opposed directions as their wording suggests unless you have an
Alfa-Saab or something.
Whatever the hell they were trying to get across, I actually love the idea of unabashed depth if done properly, as I would rather have more options I can explore as I progress rather than hit a wall early on because the developers made the game for the lowest common denominator of dumb-dumbs.
- I was surprised to find that the tutorial mission had several optional side-quests I could pursue, and that the map was so big, I had multiple path options too. In the mission you can watch above, there’s an obvious critical path, but you can also stop and investigate more of the planet, if you’d like. So many choices! The game feels more on the scale of Dragon Age Inquisition, though I haven’t seen any filler yet.
Based on what others have said about Dragon Age Inquisition, though, the
content of those side quests is imperative. I don't want a small game padded out by vapid nonsense. Likewise, I'm going to need something more concrete than "you can also explore more of the planet!", because that's what every open world game does already. Give me a
reason to investigate these other regions, as merely having the
option to do something is meaningless if it's tantamount to watch moss grow.
- Gun customization is back, and you can add all sorts of modifications and tweaks. I accidentally gave my pistol a big scope, which made using it unwieldy.
Perfect. If I want to make a daft contraption to get my murder-on raging, let me dammit!
It also seems that
there are ammo modifiers, so you can make a space pyromancer if you want. Based on my recent experience with Shadow Warrior 2, you can't go wrong with an automatic fireball machine gun.
- There are so many small environmental details that pop out even in the middle of combat, whether it’s floating debris, or cool little lights lining the fancy new technology you encounter. Andromeda is a looker, and Bioware uses that power to great effect—planets look alien.
I dunno. I kind of got a "Breaking Bad
in Space" vibe, but I'll admit my bias up front: I
abhor desert/sand levels every time, anyway. As far as "golden worlds" go, the desert one? Eh. Leave that to whatever species is socially acceptable for everyone to sh*t on. My vote is Angara, because apparently they're really into
emotions and hugging.
- There’s a whole lotta scanning in this game. You’re going to scan everything from containers to corpses, Batman-style.
I don't know if this was in the original games, but I like how this is visually integrated to incorporate typical user interface information into the gameplay itself.
- I haven’t gotten to know all of the characters very well, but what I’ve seen thus far has me intrigued. The female Turian I’ve met seemed more kickass than Garrus (!). I’ve met a racist Salarian. I’ve met a very...forward Asari. I’ve met a lot of people who are just trying to get by under trying circumstances. Nobody is boring. Even the most annoying characters have a reason as to why they’re being so dickish.
I wanna hear an alien race joke!!!
But really, the way I interpret "
most annoying" is a scale implying that Mass Effect Andromeda is simply an intergalactic kaleidoscope of irritating pillocks. Or at least, that's what I took away from those 20 minutes.
- This game has some of the fanciest haircuts I’ve ever seen.
Yes. It looks like the Insane Clown Posse finally figured out how magnets work in this universe.
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